HonorableHenry Wade

DistrictAttorney Dallas County Governmental Dallas, Texas 75202

Dear Sir: Center OpinionNo. ~-853
Re: Whether a rubber stamp engraved as directed by Article 5960 V.C.S., may be used by a Notary Public as his official seal to validate his acts of office.
You have requested from this office an official opinion on the followingquestion:

"Whetherthe authentication of his offkclalact. by a Notary Pub~lc'by'theuse of a seal 'of.offi'ce"ma'de' 'by '~ the Imprint of a traditionalrubber stamp~showlnga star of fivepoints in the center and the words 'NotaryPublic, County of , Texas' around the margin (theblank to be fllledth the name of the County for whY.chthe Officer Isappointed), thus, by the use ,ofan ink pad, making apprinted Impression as opposed to the tradltlona.1 stamped or embossed impression, Is authorized underArticle 5960, RCS." The controlling statute isArticle 5960,Vernon's Texas Statutes which ,read~s as follows: "Eachnotarypublic shalI'provlde 'aseal of office, whereon shall be engraved in the~centera star of five,~polnts,

and the words, Notary Public, County Of Texas, around themargin (theblank to'be filled'wlththe name of the County.for.which the officer is appotnted),.and:heshall- authenticate' .,a11 his.official acts therewith."

-4141-Honorable Henry Wade, Page 2 (M-853)

Such a statute Is subject to a liberal construction and a substantial compliance the,rewith obtains. 53 Tex. Jur 2d 298, Statutes, Sec. 194; also pages 16-17, Sec. 9. The specificdirective of such statute is in regard to the text and form of a particulardevice or design to be engraved on the instrument referred to therein as a seal of office. Nothing in this statute or in the Constitutionof Texas, nor in any other statute of this State or prior Constitution thereof, including the Constitutionof the Republic of Texas, requires the use of any particularmaterial in the construction of any seal, notarial or otherwise.
The Chief Justices of the several county courts of the Republic of Texas were, ex officio, the firstnotariespublic of the Republicand the first Congress thereof specified the seal to be used for such Courts,and for a notarial seal as well, to appear as follows: !'with the style of the Court around the margin thereof, and a star of five points in the centre." Laws of Texas, 1833-40,Vol. 1, p.151. The first Constitution of the State of Texas authorized the Governor,with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint a convenientnumber of notariespublic, but nomention was made of a seal of office for such officers. The early laws of this State often referred to the officialhand and seal of notariespublic but we have been unable to find any statute prescribinga form for such seal until 1876. The notarypublic seal prescribedby statute in thatyear was identicalwith the one described and authorized by our present Article 5960. Acts of 1876, p.29. Obviously, the use of the term 'engraved" in Article 5960 to denote the means by which the device or design was to be made to appear on such seal, referred only to the instrument thereindesignatedas a seal of office to be provided by each notary public and~used to authenticateall his officialacts, and did not refer to the impression of such sealmade to appear J on any i?i&?ument of writing being authenticated thereby. t.5
The word "engrave" is defined in Webster's Third New InternationalDictionaryas meaning: "toproduce (as letters, figures, points." or devices)by means of Incised line,s,spaces or

The word "incised",used in the foregoingdefinition, is defined by Webster as: "made with or as if with a sharp knife or scalpel: clean and well defined."

-4142-HonorableHenry Wade, Page 3 (M-853)

We can see no deviation from the next foregoingdefinition of the process of engraving in the construction of an ,ordinary rubber stamp, as describe~d in your question, which bears the insignia and wordsproperly placed thereon according to the statute involved. Undoubtedly, in order for the stamp to print a legible ink impression on an instrument,the device thereon necessarilywould have to have been produced on the rubber face of the stamp by some means as if with a sharp knife: clean and well defined. The actual means of producing such lines on the rubber stamp, whetherby casting,moulding, etching, carving or otherwise,are of no consequence,as it is the character of the lines produced that constitutesengraving, not themeans of their production nor even the characterof material upon which such lines are produced, according to the general sense of Webster’sdefinitions. A word of caution, however, is here directed to the users of such stamps. An indelible ink pad would seem to be necessary for transferring the impression of such type of seal onto an instrument of writing in order to complete the act of authenticationenvisaged by the statute - that is, an impression of some degree of durabilitywhich would tend to avoid the fact question raised in the early case of Stooksberr v. Swan (civ.app.1893)21 SW 694; (Tex.Sup.Ct.1893) 22 SW &3.
In view of the foregoing, it is the Opinion of this office that your question should be answered in the af’firmative. :.

SUMMARY
A seal of office of a notarypublic fashioned as rubber stamp engravedas defined inArticle 5960, V.C.S., is authorized by the statute and an indelibly inked imprint thereof impressed upon a proper instrument by such notary public to authenticatehis official act is sufficient in law to constitute the use of his official seal of office thereon. .? Yodrsvery trulry,

-4143-Honorable Henry Wade, Page 4 (M-853)

Preparedby R. L. Lattlmore AssistantAttorney General
APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEE
Kerns Taylor, Chairman W. E.' Allen, Co-Chairman Austin Bray Marietta McGregor Payne Jay Floyd Brandon Bickett
MEADE F. GRIFFIN Staff Legal Assistant
ALFRED WALKER ExecutiveAssistant
NOLA WHITE First Assistant

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